NZ Leap Day Self Pay Petrol Pump Failures

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2024/02/leap-year-glitch-broke-self-pay-pump... -- Take care. Thanks, Brian Inglis Calgary, Alberta, Canada La perfection est atteinte Perfection is achieved non pas lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à ajouter not when there is no more to add mais lorsqu'il n'y a plus rien à retirer but when there is no more to cut -- Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

In related news, leap day also broke the issuance of driver's licenses in four prefectures in Japan. This occurred at about 20:15 local time, or 11:15 UTC, so it's not clear how the leap day caused the problem - perhaps a once-a-day app run after the end of the work day? https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20240229-171789/ Leap day also broke the videogames Theatrhythm and WRC. The workaround for the videogames is to change the date on your console. Reports of the bug have suggested that it be fixed by the year 2028. https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-theatrhythm-broken-wrc-leap-day-bug-ps4-185... https://bnnbreaking.com/tech/leap-day-glitch-in-theatrhythm-final-bar-line-d...

On Thu, 29 Feb 2024 at 18:50, Paul Eggert via tz <tz@iana.org> wrote:
This occurred at about 20:15 local time, or 11:15 UTC, so it's not clear how the leap day caused the problem
The article is dated 14:50 JST Thursday and says the system was fixed "by around noon", so presumably the "8:15 p.m." start time was a typo and should have been "8:15 a.m." -- Tim Parenti

So much for the tiresome argument that the problem with leap seconds was their unpredictability. -- Doug Ewell, CC, ALB | Lakewood, CO, US | ewellic.org -----Original Message----- From: tz <tz-bounces@iana.org> On Behalf Of Paul Eggert via tz Sent: Thursday, February 29, 2024 14:23 To: Time zone mailing list <tz@iana.org>; Brian Inglis <Brian.Inglis@SystematicSW.ab.ca> Cc: Peter Neumann <Risks@CSL.SRI.com> Subject: Re: [tz] NZ Leap Day Self Pay Petrol Pump Failures In related news, leap day also broke the issuance of driver's licenses in four prefectures in Japan. This occurred at about 20:15 local time, or 11:15 UTC, so it's not clear how the leap day caused the problem - perhaps a once-a-day app run after the end of the work day? https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20240229-171789/ Leap day also broke the videogames Theatrhythm and WRC. The workaround for the videogames is to change the date on your console. Reports of the bug have suggested that it be fixed by the year 2028. https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-theatrhythm-broken-wrc-leap-day-bug-ps4-185... https://bnnbreaking.com/tech/leap-day-glitch-in-theatrhythm-final-bar-line-d...

Any word of any fallout from the Kazakhstan brave* TZ change on a leap day? *In the commonwealth sense. "A brave move, Minister." -- Robert Masters Systems Engineer InfraOps Team Bunnings Group Limited -----Original Message----- From: tz <tz-bounces@iana.org> On Behalf Of Doug Ewell via tz Sent: Friday, March 1, 2024 2:01 PM To: Paul Eggert <eggert@cs.ucla.edu>; Time zone mailing list <tz@iana.org>; Brian Inglis <Brian.Inglis@SystematicSW.ab.ca> Cc: Peter Neumann <Risks@CSL.SRI.com> Subject: Re: [tz] NZ Leap Day Self Pay Petrol Pump Failures Caution: This message is from an external sender. Only follow links and open attachments from known senders. Use the "Report Phish" button if you are unsure of this email. So much for the tiresome argument that the problem with leap seconds was their unpredictability. -- Doug Ewell, CC, ALB | Lakewood, CO, US | ewellic.org -----Original Message----- From: tz <tz-bounces@iana.org> On Behalf Of Paul Eggert via tz Sent: Thursday, February 29, 2024 14:23 To: Time zone mailing list <tz@iana.org>; Brian Inglis <Brian.Inglis@SystematicSW.ab.ca> Cc: Peter Neumann <Risks@CSL.SRI.com> Subject: Re: [tz] NZ Leap Day Self Pay Petrol Pump Failures In related news, leap day also broke the issuance of driver's licenses in four prefectures in Japan. This occurred at about 20:15 local time, or 11:15 UTC, so it's not clear how the leap day caused the problem - perhaps a once-a-day app run after the end of the work day? https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/___https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society... Leap day also broke the videogames Theatrhythm and WRC. The workaround for the videogames is to change the date on your console. Reports of the bug have suggested that it be fixed by the year 2028. https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/___https://kotaku.com/final-fantasy-theatr... https://protect.checkpoint.com/v2/___https://bnnbreaking.com/tech/leap-day-g... This email is confidential and may contain legally privileged information. If you are not the intended recipient, you must not disclose or use the information contained in it. If you have received this email in error, please notify us immediately by return email and delete the document.

On 2/29/24 14:22:47, Paul Eggert via tz wrote:
In related news, leap day also broke the issuance of driver's licenses in four prefectures in Japan. This occurred at about 20:15 local time, or 11:15 UTC, so it's not clear how the leap day caused the problem - perhaps a once-a-day app run after the end of the work day?
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20240229-171789/
I could imagine such a problem's arising from an attempt to compute the expiration date by adding an odd number of years to the issue date. -- gil

Paul Gilmartin via tz said:
In related news, leap day also broke the issuance of driver's licenses in four prefectures in Japan. This occurred at about 20:15 local time, or 11:15 UTC, so it's not clear how the leap day caused the problem - perhaps a once-a-day app run after the end of the work day?
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20240229-171789/ I could imagine such a problem's arising from an attempt to compute the expiration date by adding an odd number of years to the issue date.
Not directly related to this, but it reminded me: the UK has (19th century, if I recall correctly) case law about this topic. To be precise, what is meant by statements like "three months after 31st March"? The court decided that you move to the relevant month and, if it doesn't have that day in it, step *back* to the last day of the month. So the answer in that example is 30th June. And 31st March is never exactly a month after any date. So anyone born on 29th February reaches adulthood on 28th February 18 years later. -- Clive D.W. Feather | If you lie to the compiler, Email: clive@davros.org | it will get its revenge. Web: http://www.davros.org | - Henry Spencer Mobile: +44 7973 377646

On 3/1/24 07:45:12, Clive D.W. Feather via tz wrote:
So anyone born on 29th February reaches adulthood on 28th February 18 years later. .
It might be worse than that -- it might be 27th February: <https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/4783/us-law-what-exact-time-is-a-per...> "In the US, the common law rule is that a year of age is completed on the day preceding the anniversary of one's birth." But most states vary this for liquor purchase eligibility. -- gil

Paul Gilmartin via tz said:
On 3/1/24 07:45:12, Clive D.W. Feather via tz wrote:
So anyone born on 29th February reaches adulthood on 28th February 18 years later. . It might be worse than that -- it might be 27th February: <https://law.stackexchange.com/questions/4783/us-law-what-exact-time-is-a-per...> "In the US, the common law rule is that a year of age is completed on the day preceding the anniversary of one's birth."
Oh. I was talking UK law. -- Clive D.W. Feather | If you lie to the compiler, Email: clive@davros.org | it will get its revenge. Web: http://www.davros.org | - Henry Spencer Mobile: +44 7973 377646

On Fri, 1 Mar 2024 at 09:30, Paul Gilmartin via tz <tz@iana.org> wrote:
https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/society/general-news/20240229-171789/
I could imagine such a problem's arising from an attempt to compute the expiration date by adding an odd number of years to the issue date.
If that were all it was, I feel like the issue would have likely cropped up sooner than 2024. Speculating for a bit for fun… In Japan, a lot of official documentation is done using the "gengō" or regnal year. When the era changed in 2019, for example, this led some ATMs, which used the regnal year internally, to think it was 1989: https://soranews24.com/2019/04/30/atms-in-japan-are-saying-theyll-transfer-y... Until recently, Japanese driver's licenses used regnal years only. (Based on image searches, it seems they've recently added the Gregorian year as well.) It's plausible that the relevant software systems still use the regnal year internally. During the previous Heisei (平成) era, leap years were divisible by four (e.g., 平成20年 = 2008, 平成24年 = 2012, 平成28年 = 2016), but in the current Reiwa (令和) era, they instead leave a remainder of two (e.g., 令和2年 = 2020, 令和6年 = 2024). It's plausible someone did not realize such rules would need to be updated with the era change. As for why it wouldn't have cropped up in 2020 instead? … Leap Day was a Saturday. It's plausible that the relevant offices were closed for business and no licenses were issued or renewed. -- Tim Parenti
participants (7)
-
Brian Inglis
-
Clive D.W. Feather
-
Doug Ewell
-
Paul Eggert
-
Paul Gilmartin
-
Robert Masters
-
Tim Parenti